Main menu

Post navigation

International Conference: Korean Immigration and Multiculturalism

An international conference titled Korean Immigration and Multiculturalism will take place at the Center for Korean Studies February 12-14, 2014.

Since the steamship carrying the first one hundred and two Korean immigrants landed at Honolulu Harbor on January 13, 1903, Korean immigration to the United States has continued in accordance with U.S. immigration law and policy changes. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 1,463,474 Koreans residing in the United States as of March 2010.

Although there have been efforts to study the development of Korean immigration to the United States, many gaps remain to be filled. In particular, the legal structures that supported immigration, the changing identities of the Korean immigrants, and the implications of the Korean immigrants on the developing intercourse of multiculturalism have been less studied. The relationship between Korea and the United States has been ever increasing since the great expansion of Korean immigration to the United States after the adoption of 1965 Immigration Act. It is now entering into a new stage as a result of the adoption of the R.O.K.-U.S. Free Trade Agreement in 2011.

This conference will offer a significant forum to develop a deeper understanding of the history of Korean immigration and related legal issues; to conduct comparative research on the Korean Diaspora; to fill the gaps in the areas of law and policy; and to gauge the implications of Korean immigrants on multiculturalism in Korea and in the United States.

Conference activities center on presentations in three sessions to be held in the Center’s auditorium on Thursday, February 13, beginning at 9:30 a.m. The program includes:

Session 1: Korean Immigration to the United States (10:00-11:30 a.m)

Tae-Ung Baik (University of Hawaii at Manoa): “Korean immigration to Hawaii and the U.S. Immigration Act”

The conference was organized by Prof. Tae-Ung Baik of the William S. Richardson School of Law, Prof. Seunghye Hong of the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work; and Ms. Duk Hee Lee Murabayashi, a trustee of the University of Hawai‘i Foundation.

The conference is sponsored by the UH Center for Korean Studies, William S. Richardson School of Law, and Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work; the Academy of Korean Studies; The Korean American Foundation Hawaii; and the Asia Institute, Osaka University of Economics and Law.